Interestingly enough, the aforementioned bundle is releasing before Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is made available. In addition to a Nintendo Switch, themed docking station and controllers, the customer of this item will also get a download code for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that will become usable on December 7, 2018.

With images of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Switch bundle now surfacing on Amazon, speculation about the final roster count has come about. On one side of the box, we can very clearly see the presence of 36 of the characters arranged in a very specific order.

Oddly, the first character shown from this side is Luigi rather than Mario. In fact, it's especially odd how the first nine characters are skipped when Masahiro Sakurai has placed special emphasis on the order in which each combatant has joined the series in the past.

After fighters 10-18 are shown, fighters 19-27 are skipped before 28-36 are seen on this side of the box. See the pattern? Characters are either present or hidden in intervals of nine.

This stays true from top to bottom... except in the case of Corrin. If this pattern were to continue correctly, then Corrin should theoretically be absent from this side of the box.

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So, what happened here? This seems to suggest that an Echo Fighter was positioned here which caused Corrin's placement to be offset.

In other words, there's a rather strong possibility — though not necessarily guaranteed — that one of the following characters has an Echo Fighter: Palutena, Pac-Man, Robin, Shulk, Bowser Jr., Duck Hunt, Ryu, or Cloud.

Let's consider the possibilities here. If Palutena were to have an Echo Fighter, Viridi or Medusa could potentially fulfill this purpose.

Ms. Pac-Man could work for Pac-Man, but this sounds like it might be better as an alternate costume instead. Alternatively, Pac-Man does have a kid that could do this.

Throughout the Fire Emblem series, there are most certainly a large number of mage-like heroes that could fight similarly to Robin. Given, the number who wield swords and tomes are somewhat rare by comparison.

Dunban could serve as a Monado user like Shulk.

As for Bowser Jr... it's difficult to imagine any character being added for this purpose considering that the Koopalings are already alternate costumes.

Given, the source of this rumor also stated that Isabelle would be an Echo Fighter of Villager. Despite this, Isabelle is numbered as 68 rather than 45ε. Still, it's easy to see how someone might confuse Isabelle as an Echo Fighter as these two do share some moves.

The individual that made these predictions also declared that Incineroar was the Generation 7 Pokémon representative. Supposedly, Square Enix is also getting another character.

However, if we assume that the three Mii Fighters all occupy the same amount of space as a single character — similarly to what we see the Pokémon Trainer doing with Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard — then this means that there are only three spaces unaccounted for.

Obviously, one of these spaces is going to go to Isabelle as she is not seen on the side of the box where she is supposed to be present. Nintendo probably wanted to avoid leaks so this image appears to be hiding two spots at the bottom.

Potentially, this could mean that there are only two characters left to be announced — with an Echo Fighter on an unseen part of the box. Should this happen, this'll make a grand total of 74 characters upon launch!

Both Ken Masters and Incineroar fulfill a sort of fiery theme, so these two are looking more likely than the supposed Square Enix rep.

Considering that the game is due out on December 7, 2018, it's possible the development team is already making plans for DLC. Mewtwo was announced before Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U was released, so this might be where the Square Enix fighter comes in.

Of course, it's very important to keep in mind that nothing is set in stone quite yet. There's no guarantee that we'll receive word about the identities of everyone on the launch roster by November 2nd.

We also don't know for sure if this is what the box will actually look like when it is released. Finally, it's unknown if the box will actually have all the characters shown.

This theory makes a lot of assumptions, but the theory does come off as logical. Any sort of confirmation or disconfirmation about its validity won't come until later.

Does this theory seem sound to you? Would you be happy if this was the final roster?